Control of Thought: The Mind and Control of Thought
By Sri Swami Sivananda

Control of Thought
1. The mind is like a wheel which revolves endlessly with tremendous velocity. It generates new thoughts with every revolution. This wheel is set in motion by the vibration of psychic Prana or subtle Prana. The practice of Pranayama lessens the velocity of the mind and slows down the wheel gradually. Perfect control of Prana will bring the wheel to a standstill.

2. Alcohol, meat, Rajasic foods, cinema, novel-reading, obscene songs, obscene sights, evil company, obscene talks will make the wheel of mind revolve very rapidly whereas fruits, Sattvic food, company of Mahatmas, study of religious books, solitude, Japa, Kirtan, concentration, meditation, enquiry of 'Who am I?' will slow down the wheel and eventually bring it down to a standstill.

3. Identify yourself with the Immortal Self. Enquire 'Who am I?' whenever thoughts arise in your mind. All the thoughts will gradually die.

4. Fewer the desires, lesser the thoughts. Become absolutely desireless. The wheel will stop entirely. If you reduce your wants, if you do not try to fulfill your desires, if you try to eradicate your desires one by one, your thoughts will diminish in frequency and length. The number of thoughts per minute will also decrease. Fewer the thoughts, greater the peace. Remember this always. A wealthy man who does speculation in a big city and who has a large number of thoughts has a restless mind, in spite of his comforts, whereas, a Sadhu who lives in the cave of Himalayas and who is practicing thought-control is very happy in spite of his poverty.

5. Concentration will increase by lessening the number of thoughts. Certainly it is an uphill work to reduce the number of thoughts. In the beginning it will be taxing you much. The task will be very unpleasant. But later on you will rejoice as you will get immense strength of mind and internal peace by reduction of thoughts. Armed with the patience, perseverance, vigilance, fiery determination and iron will, you can crush the thoughts easily just as you crush a lemon or an orange with ease. After crushing, it will be easy for you to root them out. Mere crushing or suppression will not suffice. There may be again resurrection of thoughts. They should be totally eradicated, just as a loose tooth is rooted out.

6. When you give a blow on the head of a snake with a stick and crush its head, it remains absolutely motionless for some time. You think it is dead. All of a sudden it raise its head and runs swiftly. Even so the thoughts that were once crushed and suppressed by you regain strength and raise up their heads. They must be destroyed totally beyond resurrection.

7. It is very difficult to fix the mind on one thought in the beginning. Diminish the number of thoughts. Try to have thoughts on one subject. If you think of a rose you can have all sorts of thoughts connected with rose only. You can think of different kinds of roses that are grown in different parts of the world. You can think of the various preparations that are made out of roses and their uses. You can allow even thoughts of other kinds of flowers to enter; but do not entertain thoughts of fruits and vegetables. Check the aimless wandering of the mind. Do not have thoughts at random when you think of a rose. Gradually you can fix the mind on one thought. You will have to discipline the mind daily. Eternal vigilance is needed in thought-control.

8. Fewer the thoughts, greater the mental strength and concentration. Suppose the average number of thoughts that pass through your brain within one hour is one hundred. If you succeed in reducing them by constant practice of concentration and meditation to ninety you have gained ten per cent of power of concentration of mind. Every thought that is reduced adds strength and peace to the mind. Reduction of even one thought will give you mental strength and peace of mind. You may not be able to feel this in the beginning as you do not possess a subtle intellect; but there is a spiritual thermometer inside to register the reduction of even a single thought. If you reduce one thought the mental strength that you have gained by this reduction will help you to reduce the second thought easily.

9. In rubber plantation, planters take recourse to the method of thinning out the rubber trees by cutting the small surplus trees which stand in the vicinity of big trees. By so doing they can tap more milk or rubber juice from the big trees. Even so you must thin out the thoughts by destroying them one by one to drink the ambrosial milk or nectar of Immortality.

10. When the tail of a lizard is cut, the cut end will flutter about for some time, as there is still a little residual Prana in the tail. After one or two minutes all motion will cease. Even so, even after thinning and reduction of thoughts, some thoughts will move about like the tail of the lizard. But they are powerless. They cannot do any serious havoc. There is no vitality in them. Just as the drowning man tries to catch anything to save himself, so also these lifeless thoughts try their level best to come back to their previous state of life and vigour. If you go on with your daily practice of concentration and meditation regularly, they will die by themselves like a gheeless lamp.

11. In the beginning of your practice of thought-control you will experience great difficulty. You will have to wage war with them. They will have to struggle their level best for their own existence. They will say: "We have every right to remain in this place of mind. We have a sole monopoly from time immemorial to occupy this area. Why should we vacate our dominion now? We will fight for our birthright till the end." They will pounce upon you with great ferocity. When you sit for meditation only all sorts of evil thoughts will crop up. As you attempt to suppress them they want to attack you with redoubled force and vigour. But positive always overcomes the negative. Just as darkness cannot stand before the sun, just as a leopard cannot stand before the lion so also all these dark, negative thoughts, these invisible intruders, enemies of peace, cannot stand before the sublime divine thoughts. They must die by themselves.

12. Just as the warrior chops off the heads of his enemies one by one, when they come of a fortress through a trap door, so also chop the thoughts one by one when they emerge out through the trap door to the surface of the mind.

13. The substitution method is very easy and effective in the destruction of evil thoughts. Cultivate positive virtuous thoughts of mercy, love, purity, forgiveness, integrity, generosity, humility, etc., in the garden of your mind. The negative vicious thoughts of hatred, lust, anger, greed, pride, etc., will die by themselves. It is difficult to destroy the evil thoughts by attacking them directly. You will have to tax your will and waste your energy.

14. Suppose the evil thoughts stay in your mind for twelve hours and recur every third day. If you can make them stay for ten hours and recur once in a week by daily practice of concentration and meditation that is a decided improvement. If you continue your practice, the period of stay and recurrence will be gradually lessened. Eventually they will disappear altogether. Compare your present state of mind with that of last year or year before last. You will be able to find out your progress. The progress will be very slow in the beginning. It will be difficult for you to gauge your growth and progress.

15. Thoughts gain strength by repetition. If you entertain an evil thought or a good thought once, this evil thought or good thought has a tendency to recur again. Thoughts crowd together. Just as the birds of the same feather flock together, so also if you entertain one evil thought all sorts of evil thoughts join together and attack you. If you entertain any good thought, all good thoughts join together.

16. Like attracts like. If you entertain evil thought that thought attracts all sorts of evil thoughts from others. You pass on that thought to others also. Thought moves. Thought is a living dynamic force. Thought is a thing. If you allow your mind to dwell on a sublime thought, this thought will attract good thoughts from others. You pass on good thoughts to others. You pollute the world with your bad thoughts. You help the world with your good thoughts.

17. When you reach the spiritual summit of thoughtlessness you will reach the abode of Immortality and eternal peace and supreme bliss. O Ram! Start your homeward journey. March boldly in the spiritual path. Be not afraid of difficulties. Be bold. Ascend peak after peak. Cross the deep ravines of subtle Moha and pride that come on your way. Take a long jump and cross the mystic frontier of Avyaktam. Chop off the thoughts that wage again and again a guerrilla war. Enter now the infinite domain of pure bliss and highest knowledge. Regain your old pristine divine glory. Rest in your Sat-chit-ananda Svarupa.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda. See all articles here: Easy Steps to Yoga

外国人登録者数２０８万人、４５年連続で増加

　日本に住む外国人登録者数は２００６年末現在で２０８万４９１９人（前年比３・６％増）、日本の総人口に占める割合は１・６３％で、いずれも過去最高を更新した。

　４５年連続の増加。法務省入国管理局がまとめた。

　国籍・出身地別では韓国・朝鮮が全体の２８・７％（５９万８２１９人）で最も多いが、高齢化や帰化などによって特別永住者は減少しており１９９１年をピークに減少傾向にある。以下、中国２６・９％（５６万７４１人）、ブラジル１５・０％（３１万２９７９人）、フィリピン、ペルー、米国の順。国籍・出身地数は１８８に達している。

　都道府県別では、東京都が３６万４７１２人でトップ。大阪、愛知、神奈川、埼玉、兵庫、千葉、静岡、岐阜、京都を加えた上位１０都府県の合計は全国の約７割を占める。うち前年比では岐阜が７・６％増、愛知が７・１％増と経済が好調な中部圏で高い伸び率を示した。

성공과 발전에서 전통에 대한 순응과 도전

27. No one can possibly achieve success in the world by conforming to the conventional practices and ways of thinking

Mankind has stood the test of time and traveled through all odds to become master of the entire planet. From stone age man to the jet age he had to change according to his environment and fight to better himself. In this struggle there some people who stand out as an exemplary people, they are the one who have dared to think beyond which others haven’t thought of.

Shiva khera, an international motivator has said "winners don't do different things, they do things differently". The above said stands true with the example of

Copernicus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther to name a few. They dared to

challenge the existing thought an express their view point and stand by their belief.

As it takes a deluge of fresh water to drive away the stench of malodorous water, we need such non conformist to manumit the humankind from the shackles of ignorance. One who dare to do so have to be of strong and cogent thought and not vary from their belief irresolutely. It takes a mental strength to stand against the world and put forward an idea that has never been heard, seen or thought earlier.

Not every person dares to do something that is against the accepted norms of the society. As on one hand society adores and idolizes the success it doesn't falter in harassing the one who hasn't been successful in his endeavors. This is the chief reason we don't come across many people who have attained extra ordinary success in their life.

One of the examples that stands out was Copernicus who dared to put forward his idea of heliocentric theory at the time when it was a established faith in the geocentric theory. He was castigated as being iconoclastic. He wasn't deterred by such allegation and proved himself true. If he hadn't gone against the accepted thinking he would have been just another common man who came to earth, lived his mundane life and died a insignificant death.

The example from the modern time would be that of Sabers Bateau, the founder of Hotmail. He risked giving up his job to venture into an idea which hadn't been tried earlier, A free e -mail service. He brought out the new concept to the world on American independence day in 1996. Today it is the way the world communicates and has brought the internet to the common man. This venture did make him a millionaire and brought him glory and name that shall never fade away from the pages of human history.

Those who want the attain the pinnacle of success have to dare to challenge the establish faith else success will remain an adored.

84. In any field of endeavor, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field.

As the great scientist Newton said? We make progress on the shoulder of our formers. ?In this sense, I agree with the assertion that in any field of endeavor, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field.

First of all, without learning the great achievements of the formers in a certain field, we simply cannot grasp the fundamental knowledge and technology of that field. Without such fundamental knowledge and technology, how can we carry out any research in that field and ultimately resulting in significant contribution? The higher a tower is, the deeper its basis is. No skyscraper towers in the air.

In addition, not only can we master the primary ken of the realm where we exert our effort by studying the past great works in that field, but we can also find out the key issues that existed in this field unsolved by the past achievements and merit more endeavor. For example, Einstein relative theory was based on Newton classic mechanics theory, and further perfected it. And to observe the micro world more clearly, scientists designed electronic microscope to offset the shortcoming of optical microscope.

Moreover, being strongly influenced by past achievements does not mean indulging one mind and ideas in the past world and lacking the innovation. After assimilating the elite of the past achievements, people may endow them with innovative application. For instance, after grasping the principle of base complement, scientists put this theory into practice and establish the PCR technology, which are widely implemented in the research of life science. Then by further understanding the PCR technology, they put forward the RAPD, RT-PCR, DNA fingerprint technology. All these technologies are the innovation based on the strong influence of the past achievement.

As I mentioned above, it is impossible in any field of endeavor to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field. Admittedly, if people are too superstitious about the past achievement they won make significant achievement in certain field. As long as we take a positive and reasonable attitude toward the degree of the influence the past achievements exert on us, we are sure to make great contributions to the fields where we make endeavor.

188. "Success, whether academic or professional, involves an ability to survive in a new environment and--, eventually, --to change it. "

1. The speaker claims that success involves an ability to survive in a new environment and to change it. Different people have their own definition of success due to their respect angles and backgrounds. As I am concerned, I agree with the speaker's propositions that the key to be success is the ability to survive in a new environment and change it. In the following analysis, I would provide evidence to support my point of view.

On the one hand, in academic realm, a solid foundation of knowledge and skill are necessary, however, any breakthrough requires more than the master of the known facts and skills, innovation demands creativity and imagination too, which definitely not the accumulation of the old doctrine. To see it more clearly, let us see a example: Polish astronomer Copernicus, famous for his proposition that earth and other planets revolve around the sun. It is the interest and enthusiasm that drive him to come into being such great theory, as we know, Copernicus was working on this theory for 30 years. Tough his theory was not published because of the threat of church, he changed the cosmic image and idea in everyone's mind after his death. Therefore, to success in academic and science area, it is important to not being restrained by the long time conventions and known so-called facts.

On the other hand, in many professional realms, creative thinking is required. For instance, in field of business, which is full of competitions, the managers will always have to be adapted to the new environment and trend. They should be also creative, thus make them always take the lead and be attractive and fresh to customers, hence to be favored by customer -their god. Those who do not change when the time or environment changes, will be fallen behind or even washed out from the stage of history, just like the creature ' world every creature has to be adapted to the changes of nature in order to survive.

Admittedly, some successes can not change the environment of society. Such progresses and successes are not far to seek, such as getting a master's degree, matriculated by a renowned university, clinching a promising contract, all of which demonstrate one's success, hard work, creativity, but hardly change the whole environment. After all, they are the results of the ability to survive in new environment.

To sum up, from the reasons and analysis mentioned above, we can safely arrive at the conclusion that in the more and more competitive times, everyone of us has to be equipped with the ability to survive in new environments and to change it eventually.

2. It is the ambition of every person to achieve success in his field. However, the important question is what is the factor that determines success? Is it just the ability to survive in the new environment or is it essential that the person change his environment as well? I herald the opinion that success comes to those who change themselves according to their environment with or with out changing it.

The success in academic field definitely comes from the ability to adjust to new environment. The environment at each step of the educational process changes considerably. As the students go from primary to secondary schools, then to college and ultimately to the university they are required to make a lot of adjustments. The study material changes substantially and so does the method of teaching. When they are young, teachers dictate them every thing and they are told to memorize the facts. Later on they learn to think critically and to study on their own. Only those students successfully survive through all these changes who are capable of adjusting quickly.

In professional field again it is essential that people adapt to the changing environment quickly. Whether a person is a doctor, a lawyer or banker, if he wants to succeed, he should be aware of all the latest developments taking place in his respective field. After all, laws are frequently amended and new laws are passed. Banking techniques often change according to the demand of clients. New medicines are developed and different ways are explored to treat a disease in the best possible way. Only those people succeed who remain abreast with the changes taking place in their field and then successfully utilize this knowledge for the benefit of their customers. If they don do so they will be left behind from their contemporaries. For example, no one will come to a surgeon who is still using the obsolete method of operation while patients tend to flock towards the doctor who is using latest equipment. This holds true for other professionals as well. Thus, the success in all the realms depends on how quickly a person changes himself according to the changing environment.

However, to succeed it is not essential that a person is able to change his environment as well. While ability to transform the environment may be essential in the field of research, but this is not essential or even required in all the fields. What will happen if students attempt to change the environment of their school? Not only the principal will reprimand and punish them but also the discipline of the school will be badly affected. In the same manner a professional may be successful even if he does not change his environment. A lawyer may not play a significant role in changing the current practices of Law but if satisfies the needs of his client, he will be considered successful. In the same manner a doctor who makes a new discovery will be appreciated and lauded but so will be the other doctor who performs operations successfully on his patients.

In sum, in the rapidly changing environment of various professions as well as academic disciplines, only those succeed who rapidly adjust to the changes. Ability to change the environment may help a person to succeed but is not essential to consider a person successful.

227. To remain vigorous, any academic field needs to be led by truly independent thinkers who are willing to ignore established boundaries and challenge long-standing assumptions.

Admittedly, as a leader of an academic field, independent thinking is an indispensable characteristic. With retrospections of the history, we can find many examples that demonstrated it. Einstein who established the relative theory, Darwin who pointed out the evolution idea, and Galileo who concluded the theory of falling body, are all independent thinker. They propelled the development of the responsive academic fields and infuse the vigor to the realms where they studied. Then when it comes to the definition of truly independent thinkers? I simply cannot agree with such notion that truly independent thinkers are people who are willing to ignore established boundaries and challenge long-standing assumptions.

Firstly, independent thinking does not equate to willing to ignoring established boundaries. As independent thinkers, they often study the existed works of the former in their study fields. After assimilating the elite of the works, they will expand the usage of the theory or ideas in some new practices. By doing so, they prolong the boundaries of the established theory, not ignore. For instance, in the development of mathematics, many theories are established on the basis of the formers. Scientists put recombining theory into practice from plant to animal, resulting in the cloning technology.

Secondly, it is true that independent thinkers will challenge long-standing assumptions, but the initial purpose is not to challenge the assumptions, but to discover the truth of the unknown world. During the process of probe the frontier inquire field, they establish some new theory which is on the contrary of the established ones. To prove Aristotle theory of geocentric, Copernicus conducted a series of observation, concluded that the earth is rotated with the sun, and established the theory of heliocentric which is a great challenge to the long-standing assumption. Let us see, were Copernicus initially going to challenge Aristotle뭩 theory? The answer is not positive.

In sum up, in my opinion, any academic field needs truly independent thinkers but truly independent thinker are people who expand the formers theories into new practices and establish new theories for the purpose of explore the truth of the mysterious unknown world rather than people who are willing to ignore established boundaries and challenge long-standing assumptions.

238. Conformity almost always leads to a deadening of individual creativity and energy.

In first glance it looks true, but the definition of conformity does change. There are many situations where conformity is most desirable thing and same time it has some side effects too. It depends in which context we are applying it.

There are some professions where the conformity is only key to success and does not effect the creativity. E. g. doctors and teachers. If I have to get my knee surgery done I will prefer a doctor who has done maximum number of knee operations rather than one who claims to do all operation. I do not think, doing same knee operation again and again, any doctor looses his creativity and energy. It applies to teachers too.

Ironically this does not happens in some case, let us see how the conformity works in an industrial environment. After World War II, the conformity base started getting widened by virtue of high productivity demand. In a shoe factory earlier one shoemaker used to make whole pair of shoe, say from cutting of leather to final polishing and packaging. Each shoe used to be a different design. Lot of skill was required but same time one man one shoe per day was the production rate. After the conformity concept has plugged in, the shoe industry working style has changed. Now instead one person making one full pair of shoes, whole shoe making job has been broken in small jobs and every one has been told to do one defined operation in defined way and pass it to the next work bench for next operation. Since the job was predefined, skill requirement was bare minimum, no room for creativity is left, but the production has increased 10 folds.

Industrial survey also tells that people get bored by doing same job again and again, there interest and energy level also comes down due to repetition of job. Survey also shows that worker doing repetitive job is more porn to commit mistakes and even meet accidents than one does variety of jobs. To avoid this, industry has devised tool like Job rotations and training to re-charge the energy level of their employees. Even it has been seen that high profile executives are advised to go on long vacation to re-charge themselves.
In conclusion, conformity has it own importance, but the cost one has to pay is reduction in creativity and energy level. There are only few areas where it is desirable and has no setbacks. Hence we have to look that, which context it is used.